South-East Asia and Comparative Studies

This paper shows how important is context in undertaking comparative and international educational research. It begins by showing how early UNESCO Plans for Asia largely ignored this crucial aspect. It then goes on to trace the development of the twin fields of comparative and international education, their purposes and different approaches and areas of inquiry before turning to South-'‐East Asia. By looking at the context of South-'‐east Asia as a region in its own right, with its diversity and complexities, and by highlighting the region's uniqueness, the paper suggests that there has been too little comparative research across the region as a whole. Too much has been concentrated on individual countries or on a couple of countries at a time. The paper ends by making some recommendations for future comparative educational research